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Thursday, 5 March 2015

Things – My Favourite Kids’ Books

Happy World Book
Day

So today is World Book
Day, the day that celebrates books and reading all over the world, the day
dedicated to encouraging children and young people to read. Book tokens are
handed out in schools and all over the country and I think the world, kids are currently
sitting in school dressed up as their favourite literary character. I think it’s
wonderful.

In honour of this
occasion I thought I’d do something a bit different, and give you a run-down of
my favourite books when I was a kid. I should say (as a warning) that this is a
fairly spontaneous post, so I haven’t had a chance to reread or even look over some
of these books; there are a few that I know I absolutely loved but don’t
actually remember all that much about. After all, I am sadly no longer a child.
On the same note, this is not a definitive list, nor even an up to date list in
terms of children’s fiction – it’s simply the books I remember most enthralling
me when I was somewhere between the ages of seven and thirteen. Of all the
books and series that shaped my childhood, it was genuinely so hard to choose a
top ten. I therefore had to pick a top fifteen. Apologies. I promise I tried.

15.
The Children of the Red King Series (AKA
the Charlie Bone books), by Jenny
NimmoNow let’s be honest. This
series was basically a rip off of Harry Potter. Boy with strange magic powers
goes to special school for other children with strange magic powers. Shortly
after Charlie Bone discovers that he can read the thoughts of people in
photographs, his uncaring family send him to Bloor’s Academy, an arts school
where each child must specialise in music, art or drama – and the students,
like Charlie, each have unique superpowers. My favourite character, Billy, can
talk to animals. So yes, the premise is basically the same as Harry Potter’s –
but they’re a well written, engaging and lovely series.

14.
The Artemis Fowl Series, by Eoin
ColferArtemis Fowl is
twelve years old and an utter genius. And being a precious and slightly
eccentric genius, he is also a sort of criminal mastermind. Having discovered
the existence of fairies, he enlists the help of his butler (whose name is
Butler) to kidnap a fairy, Captain Holly Short. If my memory serves me right,
they’re an entertaining and funny series. I know I really enjoyed them, if only
because Artemis Fowl himself is such a great character.

13.
A Series of Unfortunate Events, by
Lemony Snicket (AKA Daniel Handler)Now I loved these
books as a child. The only reason they don’t come higher for me is that I remember
the ending of the series being a little disappointing. However, for the rest of
it, I loved the formulaic – but brilliantly so – way in which Violet, Klaus and
Sunny are passed round their relatives, with Count Olaf adopting weird
disguises to find a way into their lives, desperate for their money. What I
really loved about these books are the odd details, the way Lemony Snicket is
both the ‘author’ and a character in the books, and those strange mystery
letters, V.F.D. I think it’s quite impressive that nearly ten years after I
finished this series at the age of twelve, I still remember those three
letters, even if I no longer have any clue whatsoever what they stand for, or
even if we ever find out.

12.
The Magic Finger, by Roald DahlThis is certainly not
the book people think of when they think of Roald Dahl. It’s far less known
than Matilda or The BFG or Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory – all of which I of course loved. But it’s this one I
remember being my favourite. The narrator possesses a secret talent – her magic
finger – which is triggered whenever she gets angry. In fury at her next door
neighbours, who go out hunting birds, she shrinks them down to the size of
ducks, and the ducks grow to the size of humans. As always with Roald Dahl, it’s
just a great read.

11.
Skellig, by David AlmondThe basic premise of Skellig is this: Michael is a ten years
old boy who has just moved into a new house, and while his parents focus on his sick new born sister, he finds himself often alone. He then discovers a strange homeless man
living in their garage. This man appears to have wings, and may or may not be a
sort of angel. It took me a little while to remember what actually happens in
this book, but in all these years I’ve never got out of my head just how thoroughly good it
was.

10.
Elsewhere, by Gabrielle ZevinI read this when I
was a little older, I think about twelve or thirteen, and it’s a truly lovely
book. After fifteen-year-old Liz dies in a car accident, she travels to the
place of Elsewhere, where you age backwards until you’re ready to return to
Earth as a new-born baby, to start life over again as someone else. From Elsewhere,
she can watch her family and friends back on earth from the Observation Deck.
And it’s here that she meets Owen, who died as an adult but has now aged
backwards to be only a year or two older than her. Elsewhere is basically an odd sort of love story, an original,
strange and truly beautiful book.

9.
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S.
LewisWell this had to be
here somewhere. They’re too wonderful a series and were too formative to me and
so many other kids that I couldn’t not include them. My favourites of the
series were The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe (of course) and The Horse
and His Boy (of which I now remember absolutely nothing except that it was
my favourite one). I love the way the novels intersect with each other, characters
from each popping up in other stories. I love the whole world and its creation.
And most importantly, I love Mr Tumnus.

8.
The Divide Trilogy, by Elizabeth KayThe books centres on
thirteen-year-old Felix. On holiday in Costa Rica, at the point where water
flows both to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, he finds the Divide, a thin line
where you can pass into an alternate world. In this other world filled with
mythological creatures, Felix sets off in a quest through to try and find a
cure for his heart condition. The world is a great creation, and they’re just
such fun books. There’s this one moment when Felix brings his friend Betony
back across the divide, and takes her home for dinner. Felix’s mother (assuming
Betony is a friend from school, not an elf) asks what she wants to drink. Bewildered
by what people might drink in this world, Betony looks for the closest drink
bottle she can see and asks for ‘Sherry’. Ten years after having read these
books I still remember that moment. It made me laugh so much.

7.
The Bartimaeus Trilogy, by Jonathan
StroudI feel like I’m
slightly cheating here because I didn’t actually read these book as a child,
but rather more recently. However, I feel pretty confident that any book-loving
twelve-year old would enjoy them just as much as me. In The Bartimaeus Trilogy we’re introduced to an alternate Britain,
where the government is run by magicians, relying on djinni for power. In the
books our viewpoint is split between Nathaniel, a young magician, and Bartimaeus,
a djinn. Bartimaeus speaks in this brilliant sarcastic voice, completel with
footnotes for passing comments. They are great engaging books, and really
really funny.

6.
Harry Potter, by J. K. RowlingDo I really need to
say anything more? I think pretty much everyone of my generation has a
long-standing attachment to Harry Potter. We were roughly the same age as the
characters when the books and later films were coming out, and Harry Potter’s
become so engrained in popular culture that I feel I know the books so well,
even though I’ve only read them twice, and not for years. It’s difficult to
explain just why I like Harry Potter so much, except that they’re just
brilliant, well-written books. They capture precisely what I think kids like in
literature, the familiarity of a school setting with something complex and
magical there as well. Te books are both funny and moving, and pull you so
firmly into the world. And the characters are brilliant, often Roald Dahl-like
or Dickensian in their eccentricities. It’s just a fantastic series.

5.
The Silver Sword, by Ian SerraillierThis book is quite
different to the rest on this list. For one it’s a lot older than most of them,
having been written in the 1950s. It’s also more serious, and it’s also based
on fact. It is a brilliant, tragic and moving novel, set in Poland during the
Second World War. It mainly follows the experiences of four children, siblings Ruth,
Edek and Bronia, and their friend Jan, as they try to make their way back to
their parents. For me, this book was the first thing that really taught me about
that period of history. It is one thing to study Evacuees in school, but The Silver Sword gives a much harsher
and truer picture of what was happening on the continent. And it’s not just an important
book – it’s engaging too. I listened to it on audiobook on my tape player again
and again when I was a kid. It’s one of those books I think all children should
read.

4.
The Butterfly Lion, by Michael MorpurgoI’m slightly trusting
to the general consensus that Michael Morpurgo is an excellent writer, and to
the good taste of my eleven-year-old self, because I really remember very
little about this novel. Except for the fact that I read it several times and
that it was my favourite book of all time when I was in primary school. The set
up is this: while at boarding school, a young boy meets Millie, an elderly
woman, who tells him the story of Bertie and the butterfly lion, a white lion
cub Bertie rescues as a boy. Even smudged as it is in my memory, I still think
of The Butterfly Lion as one of the
most beautiful books I’ve ever read.

3.
His Dark Materials, by Philip PullmanThisis a brilliant, brilliant series. Were
this a list what I think are the very best
children’s books rather than my favourites, it might be at number one.
Although, I should say I feel odd calling them children’s books, because
although I read and absolutely loved them at twelve, I reread them recently and
think I probably got even more out of them. The premise is brilliant, and the
alternate and not-quite-our-world so well created. The characters are wonderful.
The idea of daemons is just fantastic. And the books are so jammed packed full
of moral messages, philosophy, deep thoughts, so that you can read them on so
many different layers and levels. It’s a brilliant story, and so so much more.

2.
The Inkheart Triology, by Cornelia
FunkeI genuinely think
this was one of the first books that made me want to write books myself. I loved
Cornelia Funke’s other books as well – The
Thief Lord, Dragon Rider – she’s just such a great storyteller. I loved
that Inkheart is so much about books.
Meggie and her father Mo, the central characters, have the power to bring
characters from novels into the real world when they read aloud. Years ago, Mo
accidentally brought to life four characters from a book called Inkheart, and during the series these
come back to haunt him and his daughter. I genuinely loved these books so much
growing up.

1.
The Edge Chronicles, by Paul Stewart
and Chris RiddelFor me, these books
has to triumph over all. Set in a mythical world of floating rock, known as The
Edge, the series is made up of three main trilogies, and a few other standalone
books. Each trilogy deals with a particular generation in a particular family
tree, so that we get to see this world over decades as it changes. I just can’t
put into words just how much I love and admire these books, not only for the
brilliant world and writing but for the lovely illustrations. The world is just
so brilliantly done, each section of it so well created and so fully thought
out, not just in one static time but over the decades the series spans. The Edge Chronicles are imaginative,
fun, engaging, wondrous and bizarre, full of so much imagination and so many
great enjoyable ideas. And there are sky pirates. I mean what’s not to love
about sky pirates?

Note: Wikipedia tells
me that there are now four trilogies in the Edge Chronicles, with the first novel
in the fourth trilogy having come out last year. I think I may have to buy it
out of curiously and nostalgia.